A positive buzz currently surrounds the Merino sheep industry, after a recently launched campaign to act as a desperate bid to raise ewe numbers, has sheep producers looking at the breeds true profitability.
The first Merino industry national campaign, the Australian Association of Stud Merino Breeders (AASMB) launched Breed More Merino Ewes, to communicate widely the rapid decline in breeding numbers.
AASMB chair Georgina Wallace, Tasmania, revealed that currently, the sheep industry is losing about 2-million head per year and although this has plateaued slightly over the past 18 months, numbers have sunk from 180 million in 1990’s, to 70 million across the whole of Australia.
Ms Wallace said 40 million of the national total are ewes and of that number, 25 million are Merino ewes, and only 20 million are mated straight to a Merino ram.
“The reaction from producers and industry bodies so far has been nothing but positive - those statistics prove there is a dramatic decline and this is concerning – we felt it was time to get off our backsides and beat the drum for the Merino industry,” she said.
Coinciding with the campaign is a series of on-property case studies conducted by Ag Communicators.
Including a range of properties from self-replacing Merino flocks, feedlots, mixed enterprises and grain growing operations, the aim is to prove Merino sheep are a versatile animal, offering diversity and options for producers.
“To attract more producers back into breeding Merinos we need to demonstrate good dollar per dry sheep equivalent or dollars per hectare and the case studies which will be released in coming weeks will demonstrate this,” Ms Wallace said.
“We cannot tell producers how to run their operations, but by funding the case studies, we can give them the information to sit down and see if a Merino operation will increase their profitability,” she said.
“We need cold hard facts and figures to back up the campaign to encourage producers to expand and fix the decline.”
Once the case studies are released, Ms Wallace hopes producers will see the positives of retaining older ewes instead of selling them as cast for age and move away from using terminal sires.
She said throughout the next three years, additional case studies will occur, as the association is confident that by providing financial analysis on the breed, more producers will take notice of their valuable addition.
Merino returns outweigh management cost
A Galore producer believes the key to enticing Merino producers to expand flock numbers is re-education on how to make their existing operation perform better.
Ian Geppert, “Riverside”, Galore, currently runs 700 Merino breeding ewes, with a side flock of culled Merino ewes joined to Poll Dorset rams.
Saying that the Merino sheep, like all breeds, have areas which require more management attention than others, Mr Geppert believes this should not be a deterrent for growers to increase numbers, as it comes down to accessing management knowledge and applying it to your specific operation correctly.
Mr Galore said although vigilance is a mandatory requirement of running a successful Merino flock, with the right knowledge, the return can outweigh this.
“A lot of people head to crossbreed flocks and other breeds because they can put them in a paddock and shut the gate but I think if we can show those breeders’ what accurate Merino ram selection can achieve in wool and meat, it will dominate those management fears,” he said.
Using his figures as an example, Mr Geppert said although he had a return of $125 per head for first-cross lambs, with about $40 worth of wool, the Merino fetched $110 per head, but had a wool check of $90.
“They have to compete against breeds like the Dorper who produce a lot of meat but the $60,000 to $70,000 wool check should outweigh that for most producers - it’s about proving how that wool check is worth more than meat and slightly easier care breeds,” he said.